Nibelungenlied
The Nibelungenlied is an epic poem in Middle High German taking Burgundian kings as its subject matter. It is the work of an anonymous poet from the Danube, dating from about 1190/1200. He re-worked various pagan heroic motifs and heroic oral traditions with roots in the 5th century into a work of courtly poetry.There is also a less modified Scandinavian version, known as the Volsunga Saga.
The word Nibelungen has several meanings, referring to the Burgundian kings portrayed in the poem, to the followers of Siegfried, and to a legendary race of Germanic dwarfss.
One of the main problems of the Nibelungenlied lies in its transmission of a Germanic pagan subject matter. It has been handed down over a long time in a certain poetic language aiming at an audience that already knew the epics of King Arthur's court by Hartmann von Aue – a completely different kind of literature emphasizing detailed Christian chivalrous ethics. Accordingly, the Nibelungenlied has been inopportune from the beginng. Furthermore, with its long Germanic lines it differs formally from contemporary courtly literature, such as Hartmann von Aue, Gottfried von StraÃÂÃÂburg and Wolfram von Eschenbach.
Despite of its contradictions, the poet puts the Germanic heroes and Valkyries into a Christian noble context. Consequently, Siegfried changes from a dragon killer to a shy courting man who will express his love to Kriemhild explicitly only after he has won the friendship of the Burgundy kings Gunther, Gernot and Giselher. Some situations, which exaggerate the conflict between the Germanic migrations and the chivalrous ethics (as in the for Gunther embarrassing wedding night with Brunhild) may be interpreted as irony. The notoriously bloody end that leaves no hope for reconciliation is also far away from the need of a happy ending of courtly epics.
Despite of the inevitable breaks the merit of the poet of the Nibelungenlied does not only lie in the tradition of the epic. Several scenes testify to a dense atmosphere and psychology of the characters.
Siegfried proposes to Kriemhild, the beautiful sister of Gunther, Gernot and Giselher, three Burgundian kings. He is allowed to marry her after he defeats BrÃÂünhild, the queen of Iceland, with the aid of a cloak which lets him become invisible. BrÃÂünhild becomes Gunther's wife.
Kriemhild lets the secret slip in a row with BrÃÂünhild, and Hagen decides to kill Siegfried. He finds Siegfried's most vulnerable spot and kills him while they are hunting.
Attila the Hun now proposes to Kriemhild, and she invites the Burgundians to a feast in Hungary. There is a huge fight, and everyone is killed except Gunther and Hagen, who are captured by Dietrich of Bern. (The nugget of history embodied in this is the battle between Burgundians and Huns that ended with the Hun victory and the destruction of the capital of Gundahar (Gunther) at Worms in 437 CE.)
Kriemhild demands the return of the Nibelungen treasure, which has been stolen by Hagen. When she fails to get it back, she arranges for Gunther to be killed and cuts off Hagen's head with Sigurd's sword. She in turn is killed by Hildebrand, Dietrich's armourer.
The two versions, Nibelungenlied and the Volsunga Saga, served as source materials for Richard Wagner's "Ring Cycle" (The Ring of the Nibelung also known as Der Ring des Nibelungen), and these three works were an inspiration for J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.Time and place
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